Mars 3D

Mars 3D (also know as 終極戰士 or Mars - The Ultimate Fighter) is a game developed by Engine Technology Co. Ltd. and released in early 1997. The game engine is notable for being reverse engineered from the Doom engine and Duke Nukem 3D's incarnation of the.

Story
Sometime in 1999, a North American defense network went haywire and caused a nuclear armageddon, forcing the surviving remnants of humanity to move into cramped and unclean underground shelters. A mysterious organization called "New Hope" emerged, promising much better living conditions for joining them, in exchange for many personal freedoms. After an unknown amount of time passes, New Hope creates the space station known as SKYNET CITY, the new capital of humanity. In this city, New Hope has total control, disposing of their opposition and those seen as "no longer useful" to them. You play as Jet Hunter, who takes issue with New Hope's authorities killing his parents (New Hope's top scientists) with no reason or explanation. One day, Jet is contacted by the leader of the resistance against New Hope, named Mars. Mars informs him that something important awaits him and that New Hope has sent a platoon of soldiers after him for his suspicions. Jet arms himself with his trusty and the game begins.

Gameplay
Mars 3D's campaign is broken up into seven different maps, with no secret maps (although there are unused maps for a second and third episode). Gameplay is similar to that of Doom (hunt for keys in mazelike levels), but with less focus on horror atmosphere and minimal hitscan. Water sections have been ported in from Duke Nukem 3D, acting as pools that the player can dive into and swim around in (though you are unable to drown). A notable change is that health caps out at 500, meaning it is easy to load up on medpacks and become nigh-invincible. Some levels have friendly NPC characters who can be talked to for hints, but otherwise contribute nothing to gameplay.

Enemies
Most of the enemies you encounter are affiliated with New Hope, though some hostile wildlife can be seen in the many waterways and sewers in and around Skynet City.

Do note that these enemies have no known official names, so conjectural names have been created for them, ala TNT's soundtrack.


 * Grunt
 * Weak human troops that shoot hitscan bullets at the player with their rifles. They have 20 hit points and drop a clip of Uzi ammo on death.


 * Replicant
 * An artificial human that shoots red beams at the player from its eyes. It has 120 hit points and drops a box of Uzi ammo on death.


 * Guard drone
 * Bipedal androids that shoot red beams at the player with their arm cannons. It has 30 hit points and drops a medpack on death.


 * E-99
 * Large, bipedal, red mechs that fire rockets at the player with their shoulder cannon. They have 80 hit points.


 * Sentinel
 * A floating metal ball with grey stubs sticking out the bottom half. It shoots the same red beams as the guard drone out of its central cannon. It has 80 hit points.


 * Ceiling turret
 * A turret that hangs from the ceiling and shoots red beams at the player with its central cannon. It has 80 hit points and drops a medpack on death.


 * Floor turret
 * A turret that rests on the floor and fires missiles at the player. They have 100 hit points.


 * Louse
 * An insect that crawls around in tight spaces and bites the player. They have 15 hit points.


 * Skulker
 * A beast that swims around on the water's surface and hurls poisonous slimeballs at the player. They have 80 hit points.


 * Scargill
 * A brown fish that tries to bite the player when they're underwater. They have 80 hit points.


 * Rat King
 * The final boss. They can shoot three types of projectiles out of their arm cannon (Shock Balls, Flame Jets, and Boomerang Disks) and go invisible (which makes them intangible to your weapons). They have 1200 hit points.

Items & powerups

 * Hint orb
 * An orb that (when interacted with) gives hints on progression. Only appears on Normal skill and below.


 * Medpack
 * A sack of health supplies. Restores 15 hit points.


 * Potion
 * A white bottle with a red cross on it. Restores 25 hit points.


 * Megahealth
 * A dried flower. Restores 200 hit points.


 * Uzi clip
 * A magazine of bullets. Gives 10 Uzi ammo.


 * Uzi box
 * A box of bullets. Gives 30 Uzi ammo.


 * Grenade
 * A single grenade. Gives 1 grenade ammo.


 * Tracking missile
 * A tracking missile. Gives 5 tracking missile launcher ammo.


 * GPS receiver
 * A device used for navigation. This reveals the entire map.


 * Jet pack
 * A jet pack. Lets the user fly by using the swimming controls.

Levels

 * E1M1: Resistance
 * A collection of jail cells surrounded by a sewer.


 * E1M2: Environment Control
 * Some kind of water treatment plant mixed with a solar energy center.


 * E1M3: Base City
 * A city with a mall and administrative center.


 * E1M4: Conspiracy
 * Another science lab, ending with a trip in a time machine to 1999.


 * E1M5: Back To The Past
 * A subway that takes you down the tracks to a grand terminal.


 * E1M6: Zaker
 * Back in the present, you find yourself at the network that started the nuclear war.


 * E1M7: Skynet City
 * Armed with what you've learned from Zaker, you storm the capitol and take on those responsible for this whole mess.

Unused Enemies
These go unused in the main game, but some appear in unused levels.


 * Mouser
 * A large alien that looks like a mix between the Rat King and an imp. Appears in the unused E2M2.


 * Mutant
 * A Buff man in black pants and a ninja mask. Appears in the unused E2M9.


 * Sky-Pod
 * A flying mech piloted by a Grunt.


 * Aquaborg
 * An aquatic version of the Sky-Pod.

Unused levels
These levels can be found in the slots for Episodes 2 and 3, but are normally inaccessible. The levels are not named.


 * E2M1
 * An earlier version of E1M4.


 * E2M2
 * A shipping facility that turns nuclear sludge into clean water.


 * E2M3
 * A ruined village.


 * E2M4
 * A computer supply store.


 * E2M5
 * A recreation of E1M4: Command Control from Doom.


 * E2M6
 * A parking garage.


 * E2M7
 * A circular deathmatch arena.


 * E2M8
 * Another deathmatch arena.


 * E2M9
 * A third deathmatch arena. shaped like a compass.


 * E3M1
 * A recreation of from Doom.


 * E3M2
 * A recreation of E1M1: The Slipgate Complex from Quake.


 * E3M3
 * The last deathmatch arena.


 * E3M4
 * A dockyard full of shipping containers.

Trivia

 * Mars 3D uses a version of the WAD format known as MAD to store its maps and graphics, as well as using the same formats for sound, palettes, maps, and graphics (both the formats for sprites/textures and for flats).
 * Several sprites and textures are modified assets taken from contemporary shooters.
 * The Uzi is a modified version of Duke Nukem 3D's pistol.
 * The guard drone is a heavily-modified version of the imp, only being identifiable from the similar silhouette.
 * The barrel is modeled off of Doom's explosive barrel.
 * The pickup sprites for the flame gun and tracking missile launcher are modified versions of the plasma gun and BFG9000 respectively. The flame gun's first-person sprites have visual similarities to the plasma rifle, but are original creations.
 * Wall textures are taken and edited from Doom, Heretic, Hexen, and Duke Nukem 3D.
 * The mutant is an edited version of the golem from Heretic, having been given black pants and a ninja hood.
 * Present in the game's files are a set of textures depicting store shelves stocked with PC software. These are the boxes for several popular games and other software.
 * Boxes included are for Hexen,, Doom II, Final Doom,.